The Detroit Lions are one of the best teams in the NFL entering next season, but they’ve lost a lot of players along the way. The years preceding the Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes era featured three straight losing seasons from 2018-2020 and the page was turned for a 3-13-1 record in 2021.
But things changed when the Lions finished the 2022 season by winning eight of their final 10 games for a 9-8 record and Holmes continued to overturn the roster on the way to creating an NFC powerhouse.
For one player that emerged from the dark times, it meant a new beginning after that season. But that journey has been a tour of the league as he joined his fourth team in the past three seasons this week.
Former Lions CB Amani Oruwariye SIgns With Titans
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, former Lions cornerback Amani Oruwariye is signing a one-year deal with the Tennessee Titans. Oruwariye was a fifth-round pick by the Lions in the 2019 draft and made 173 total tackles, 24 pass breakouts and nine interceptions over four seasons with Detroit.
His best year came in 2021 when he logged 57 total tackles, 11 pass breakups and six interceptions. Although he looked like a future staple of the defense, he regressed the following year with 44 total tackles, three pass deflections and no interceptions, sending him on the journeyman carousel the past three seasons.
The path began by signing a one-year deal with the New York Giants, but he couldn’t make the team during training camp and spent the first half of the 2023 season on their practice squad. He was picked up by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second half of the season but appeared in just one game before signing a reserve/futures contract.
Oruwariye couldn’t make the team out of training camp for the second straight season, however, and he signed with the Dallas Cowboys shortly before the start of the 2024 campaign.
Oruwariye appeared in seven games for Dallas, making 29 total tackles, three pass defenses and logging his first interception since his breakout season in 2021. But most casual fans will remember him for a game against the Cincinnati Bengals last December when he muffed a blocked punt with two minutes remaining, allowing Joe Burrow to connect with Ja’Marr Chase on a go-ahead touchdown three plays later in a 27-20 loss.
There should be a chance for Oruwariye to log more defensive snaps in Tennessee. The Titans currently have L’Jarius Snead and Jarvis Brownlee Jr. listed as their starting cornerbacks next season with Roger McCreary projected in the slot role. While the Titans selected Marcus Harris in the sixth round of last year’s draft, Oruwariye will compete with Darrell Baker Jr. and Gabe Jeudy-Lally for a roster spot in 2025.
It gives the 29-year-old a chance to revive his career with the Titans. But for a player that has failed to make the team out of training camp the past two years, his opportunities could be fading.